Three Cranes Grove invites you to join us at Comfest for a celebration of the summer solstice, honoring the Zori! This ritual is free, public, and open to all. (Important note: we’re back at/near the Live Arts Stage, but later than usual! 11:30!)
The Zori are Slavic guardians of the daily cycle, sisters who keep the palace of the Sun: the Morning Zorya opens the gates for his daily path across the sky, and the Evening Zorya welcomes him home as he sets. We see them at sunrise and sunset, their riotously beautiful colors streaming across the skies, but we also see their afterimages throughout the day, in the shimmering warble of sunlight and shadow. In the Eastern Slavic folk magic tradition, the Zori are the supreme power to whom magicians appeal; we will call on them in this ritual to send their protection down on our diverse, joyful community, and especially on those who are now under attack. The Zori ward and protect the sun; how could they not protect each of us smaller stars who also shine with a brilliant light?
This rite will be held hybrid — all are welcome to join us in person, but we will also stream over Zoom. We strive to weave all attendees into our magic, no matter how they join us, and we invite all remote participants to pray at their home shrines along with us if they have them, or in the shrine of their heart if they do not, and to join with us in offering.
Schedule
Ritual is scheduled for 11:30am, and we’ll start as close to that time as we can manage. There’s no potluck at this ritual, but since you’re there anyway you might as well hang around and join the Comfest fun!
11:00 — Gathering / Zoom meeting begins
11:15 — Pre-ritual briefing
11:30 — Ritual begins
If you can’t make it in-person, we’d love to see you via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 337 362 382
Passcode: 477818
What should I have with me?
Since this ritual is at a large festival, things are a little different from our usual: no potluck, and we won’t be collecting any non-perishable food items (though you are always welcome to make a monetary donation to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective or a local food bank!).
In-person attendees are welcome to bring offerings to give — we won’t have a live fire, so please bring scatterable offerings if possible, but our priests will also collect burnable offerings and sacrifice them later on your behalf.
Zoom attendees are welcome to give offerings at their home shrine, or in the shrine of their hearts.
Location
This ritual is part of the event schedule for Comfest. Comfest is celebrated on the grounds of Goodale Park, just north of I-670 in the Short North.
Back to our usual location! This year we’re back at our usual location near the Live Arts Stage, roughly due north of the Shelter House — you can see a map on pp. 32-33 of the 2025 Comfest program guide. Though the schedule has us ‘at’ Live Arts, we traditionally set up under the big sycamore a little east of it. Just look for the altar setup; it shouldn’t be too hard to spot us first thing on a Comfest Sunday.
There are numerous garages and parking lots in the area. Street parking is also available in the surrounding neighborhood and is free on Sundays; pay close attention to all posted parking signs and be neighborly! More parking info, including info on handicapped parking and bike parking, is on pg. 61 of the Comfest program guide.
Featured image credits: Composite image from:
- “Venice, Doge’s Palace” by wiggijo, via Pixabay.
- “Mountains, Birds, Silhouette” by giani, via Pixabay.
